Union Perspectives

The question is do we want war and low wages and no pension, no healthcare and high debt or do we want safe and well-built infrastructure and less inequality? The workers are now fighting over things that take the attention off of what the workers really need and the GOP cult is very good at distraction and they own or have control of most of the media. They control most of the think tanks whose jobs are to crank out anti-union, anti-worker propaganda daily, which are talking and print points. There is only the unions who can counter this, but we have been splintered by the anti-union propaganda. Our unions, the AFL, which are mainly building trades, and the CIO, which are mainly some types of government unions, need to put their petty differences aside and work together. All unions need to organize all the workers from blue collar to white. To show the power all workers have they need to just not show up for one day and then start making demands for better worker rights. This show ...

What do the jobs look like today compared to the past? One is very few jobs today will last until retirement. Another is jobs today will probably be lost to automation of some type. All workers should have skills in a profession and a trade of some sort. Most jobs today do not pay enough for one person to support a family, which was not true in 1950s—1980s. It was in the 1980s—the Nixon and Reagan years when unions came under attacked by the anti-union GOP and amped up in the 1990s when the corporate Democrats helped the GOP—in the Clinton years. The work available today is becoming more gig jobs or part-time jobs than full-time work. It’s only part-time jobs coming out of labor centers like the temp agencies, Labor Ready, Adecco or Professional Staffing Solutions. The temp agencies convince company owners that they will save money them by doing all the paperwork connected to employees, and, in return, the company pays the hired workers and the temp agency. If a hired workers gets $1...

The anti-union-right wingers have capitalized on how to vilify any one who stands in their way to get richer and gain more power. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan succeeded in making liberals feel ashamed of the word “liberal” and fearful of being associated with socialism. When that worked so well, the GOP started vilifying the word “union” in as many ways as unions drive up the costs of construction, that unions are just corporations and all union leaders’ want is your money in the form of dues. This effort worked so well they convinced unsuspecting workers to vote against their own best interests. Today, the workers are starting to see through all the rhetoric of the anti-working establishment. The teachers have started a new trend by winning higher wages and other benefits. Now, there are others feeling like they can win higher wages, such as $15 to $24 an hour. This will, in turn, be a good thing for elections turn outs to put the right people in office who will support workers, worke...

Most of us know what we don’t like or see as wrong, but what we lack is leaders with a vision on how to fix or support new policies. So far, only the Bern man has the whole platform consisting of climate change, wage inequity, universal  healthcare, fair pensions, Social Security, union support, free education, fixing inequality, housing for all, fixing the damage caused by the Trump administration and many concerns. Adding to this list should be a universal basic income for all; state banks in the states that want them; legalization of drugs with addiction treatment instead of prisons; end the private prison industry; fix the immigration mess; implement a legislation mandating corporations pay for the use of our Commons; reform and reinvest in our public education and allow parents to pay for private or charter schools if they want their children to attend such schools; cut defense spending and use that money toward infrastructure improvement to create employment opportunities for ou...

When will the American people wake up and accept that all wars are engaged and fought to make money so a select few can become even richer? These unconscionable money grubbing warmongers do not care about the deaths of our young people or the innocent people considered collateral damage. President Woodrow Wilson admitted that the war to end all wars, the war to make the world safe for democracy had, in fact, been an industrial and commercial war, which earned the United States $30 billion in World War I. The workers of the old International Workers the World (IWW), seeing it for what it is, had little desire to enter into the war. They tried to educate the working class, even Thomas Paine and Michael Bakunin, who is considered is one of the key anarchist thinkers and activists of the 19th century, tried to warn citizens. The IWW viewed ignorance as an essential collaborator in the continued smooth functioning of governments. In his “Rights of Man” Paine proclaims reason and ignoranc...

Now is the time for public banking in California. We have given away too much for too long to Wall Street and big banks. We should have our own, here in California, like North Dakota has. The only state bank in the U.S. is in North Dakota and it partners with local lenders who provide loans to small start ups and commercial loans. California is the largest economy in the U.S. and the fifth largest in the world yet it has no state bank. There are numerous private banks, but none are state banks. The banks here in California send their profits out of state and sometimes out of the country. We do have some local banks, but they are not large enough to make an impact like a state bank would do. California needs jobs and infrastructure repairs, and California state bank would provide the money for jobs and protect us from Wall Street’s greed, which brought this country to the brink of disaster. Some in California want to split the state, but what we should be doing is start thinking lik...

How will the GOP try to stop the new teachers’ movement? The recent strikes are emboldening other states and city workers. Arizona teachers just voted to strike statewide, they were emboldened by Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky teachers. When considering going out on strike, organizations must have a plan, research their history and that of their opponent. In 1934, anti-union forces used Roy Zachary, a goon, who was the leader of the Silver Shirts, the U.S.’ equivalent to the German Brown Shirts, to try and break Minneapolis Teamster Rebellion, as portrayed in a book of the same name by Farrell Dobbs and a participant in the rebellion. The lessons learned from the Teamster Rebellion are as important today as they were then. The lessons included the “importance of rank-and-file control of the struggle, the benefits of socialist influence in the labor movement, and the necessity of militantly opposing the bosses--and, if need be, the government--in order to win.” The strike started...